I need advice

Mileage really? Is it the 4.0 or 2.7 either way that truck is good for 400k easy. Drive and use the 18k if you really want to spend it on some trips and make memories.

 

Lucky re Florida, I hate the cold weather.

I'd leave the paint alone but if you really want to, shop around.

Stereo, you can do that for short money. Depends on how much you want. I'm guessing you have the original.

I have a basic head unit in mine, no backup camera/navigation/etc but that's all I want. Added new speakers and amplifiers. I'm not saying you'd want all that either but most of it came out of my old vehicle anyways.

 

Great advice all. I’m going to keep her because it has everything I wanted in a truck and the new ones would leave me wanting.

 

Yeah, I'd keep it too. If you were just wanting something newer, as one other poster suggested, I'd look for a slightly used 3rd gen.
I plan on keeping my 2014 as long as I can, which I hope is another 10 years.

 

I'm of the mind that it's always better to keep what you have in general if it suits all the needs you have. My 2010 single cab gets some hate but I'm smiling while I enjoy no payments and not lugging around extra seats I'd use maybe 5 times a year tops. Plus being it was reframed and I spent a lot of money on repairs last year, I'd be a fool to part with it.

 

I’d keep it… I have an ‘08 with 190k miles on it and hoping it will get me to 300k before I’d really consider looking for something new. Enjoy it and do what you want to do to it i.e. the stereo which isn’t a lot of money to do and paint it if the paint is really bad.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do

 

If it were me the first stop in my decision tree would be to ask if I want to live with fewer vehicles or if I want to restore the previous number of vehicles.

From the sounds of it, you sound like you want to live with fewer vehicles.

The second decision is easy. Buy a new one now or later. Later, no question. The new trucks now really aren't a huge leap forward from what they were, and you are already beyond the largest depreciation cliffs.

I'd set it aside. It won't be your last vehicle, but it'll be nice to pay cash for the next vehicle. And who knows. Maybe you'll miss the car too much. There are a lot of low mileage toys that can be had for 18k.

 

I'd go for a 3rd gen with low miles. Just future proofing

But 2nd gens are the best looking

 

Last part especially, I surmise there will be more to come in the near future as well. Perhaps I'm wrong but I think some folks are going to have to liquidate stuff like the toys.

 

Good decision. Set aside a small chunk of the $18K for any emergency maintenance and continue to enjoy your existing truck. If there is something you don't like about it (sounds like the stereo perhaps) then spend a little on that as well. This will be a vastly better financial plan than getting a new truck!

 

^^^This^^^

Put the $18,000 in the bank and keep it as "rainy-day" protection/insurance for any future repairs on your Access Cab. 140k on a 2009 isn't bad if it was taken care of. If my math is correct, that's an avg of 9,500 miles per year. A 2024 Tacoma -anything- isn't worth $54,000 (IMO) and if you have been driving your access-cab all this time, you're probably not going to be happy driving anything else. My current truck had 104k on it when I got three years ago; It has 136,000 on it now. I take good care of it and I honestly believe it will reach 200k with no major issues.

 

LC 80 series.

 

^This
Run it into the ground. 140k in mileage is nothing for a Toyota.

 

I’m keeping my 2008 V6 with 165000 until it dies or I do

 

Is there a problem with your original paint job that’s driving you to want to either repaint or wrap it? Or is this just for aesthetic purposes. If the latter then, no, please don’t.

 

Sun damaged clear coat made me paint the roof a few years ago. I also have what you’d expect in a 15 year old truck. Nicks and scratches. It still looks great from ten feet away.

 

Gotcha.

For reference, I have a 2015 with 100,000 miles, and my plan is to drive it into the ground. Now, it has a couple minor paint issues but nothing like what you’re talking about.

Given your situation I would suggest either using some of that $18K to trade up to a newer used model, or stick with what you have and only spend money on fixing paint issues that might lead to corrosion. I definitely wouldn’t buy new, but this is advice coming from someone who only ever bought one new vehicle and later regretted it.

 

Sounds like me re the one time I did, it turned out to be a heap.

I'd echo this also. I wouldn't mind repainting the hood on mine but I'm not about to unless it starts really getting bad. Just has a few oxidation spots that I can somewhat fix.